...Not everyone who works for the Parks Service is happy about the way the shutdown is being handled. As one ranger told the Washington Times following the World War II veterans’ incident, “It’s a cheap way to deal with the situation…We’ve been told to make life as difficult for people as we can. It’s disgusting.”

It is disgusting. Especially because the Obama administration’s directives are geared to inflict as much pain as possible with no point other than to make life difficult for Americans. Barricading open air monuments? Preventing sightseeing at gunpoint? Taking well pumps? Who are these thugs – and who are the extremists here?

The ironic thing is that being mean is not helping the administration politically. Republicans are taking the most blame for the government shutdown according to polls, but President Barack Obama’s approval rating is only 37 percent, hardly a PR victory for him.

Ultimately the only thing he is proving through his nasty tactics is that he governs like the “Soup Nazi” of “Seinfeld” dispenses soup — arbitrarily and rudely. Shutdown or no shutdown, “No soup for you!” is not a way to run a country.

Solution...

Privatize the National Park Service (http://spectator.org/archives/2013/10/11/privatize-the-national-park-se)

...And so, my reaction to this egregious behavior by the National Park Service is one word: privatize. Privatize. Privatize. Privatize.

I’m not talking about privatizing the parks themselves, a suggestion others have raised. In the 1990s, I specialized in privatization, writing reports for state and local think-tanks, particularly the excellent Allegheny Institute for Public Policy. I quickly learned one of the most crucial things about privatization that most people don’t understand: privatization frequently involves not ownership but operation. It’s often wiser to privatize not ownership but operation. (Roads are an example. Let the government own the roads, but their maintenance should be contracted.) That’s particularly true when government employees operating a service became unionized, entrenched, bloated, and over-extended. And that’s precisely what we should now consider with the National Park Service. We should privatize not the parks but the service that operates, manages, administers them.

The beauty of privatizing management rather than ownership is that ownership is permanent but management is not. This means that if one management group doesn’t perform up to expectations, a new one can be hired. The hiring process should always be regularly competitively contracted. This “competitive bidding” process keeps the current management group on its toes and accountable. If it performs badly, it can be fired and replaced — unlike the current group of government employees running the National Park Service, which is a protected class with a monopoly on its service.

Let’s privatize the National Park Service.

...

Ravi

10-11-2013, 02:52 PM

That's pretty stupid. If they were privatized they'd still be shut down. Why won't the Republicans allow a vote on a clean bill if they are interested in ending the shutdown.

Mainecoons

10-11-2013, 03:41 PM

Talk about stupid. Has Boeing who builds military hardware for the government been shut down?

We don't need to privatize the Park Service. We need to get rid of a President who is such a nasty little bastard that he deliberately used the agency to hurt the public. Eighty three percent of the government is operating and 90 percent of the park service is shut down? Stupid is not recognizing that this was deliberate and abusive.

And nasty and mean spirited is supporting any politician who would do this. Wear it proudly, Ravi.

None of this happened during the Clinton shutdown. The problem isn't the park service, the problem is the punk thug in the White House.

GrassrootsConservative

10-11-2013, 03:46 PM

That's pretty stupid. If they were privatized they'd still be shut down. Why won't the Republicans allow a vote on a clean bill if they are interested in ending the shutdown.

Why didn't Democrats pass the bill the House Republicans voted on?

And then why do you feel the need to lie and say Republicans haven't allowed a vote?

Chris

10-11-2013, 03:55 PM

That's pretty stupid. If they were privatized they'd still be shut down. Why won't the Republicans allow a vote on a clean bill if they are interested in ending the shutdown.

jillian, here is an example of a non sequitur: "If (A) they were privatized (B) they'd still be shut down." (B) simply does not follow from (A).

GrassrootsConservative

10-11-2013, 04:05 PM

Them crickets again, Chris. :grin:

jillian

10-11-2013, 06:58 PM

@jillian (http://thepoliticalforums.com/member.php?u=719), here is an example of a non sequitur: "If (A) they were privatized (B) they'd still be shut down." (B) simply does not follow from (A).

actually, if they were being paid by the government (like other contractors) then they would be. perhaps she was referring to private contractors. but you'd have to ask her.

and i was correct when i referred to the non-sequitur earlier. but thanks mucho.

jillian

10-11-2013, 06:58 PM

Them crickets again, Chris. :grin:

he posted at 4:55

you blathered at 5:05

most grown ups have lives.

Ravi

10-11-2013, 07:40 PM

Talk about stupid. Has Boeing who builds military hardware for the government been shut down?

We don't need to privatize the Park Service. We need to get rid of a President who is such a nasty little bastard that he deliberately used the agency to hurt the public. Eighty three percent of the government is operating and 90 percent of the park service is shut down? Stupid is not recognizing that this was deliberate and abusive.

And nasty and mean spirited is supporting any politician who would do this. Wear it proudly, Ravi.

None of this happened during the Clinton shutdown. The problem isn't the park service, the problem is the punk thug in the White House.
They've laid people off so yeah

Chris

10-11-2013, 08:16 PM

actually, if they were being paid by the government (like other contractors) then they would be. perhaps she was referring to private contractors. but you'd have to ask her.

and i was correct when i referred to the non-sequitur earlier. but thanks mucho.

The problem is NPS workers are government workers paid by the government.